Abstract
Storytimes are a cornerstone of public library programming valued by library administrators for attracting and fostering long-term library users (Cahill et al., 2020b) and for being the most highly attended programs libraries offer (Joo and Cahill, 2019). Children’s librarians tailor storytimes to address early learning (Cahill et al., 2020a), and caregivers bring their children for entertainment and social interaction (Cahill et al., 2020c). Thus, it is not surprising that when public libraries in the United States (US) closed buildings and discontinued in-person services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, storytime programming shifted to virtual delivery modalities in public libraries in communities of all sizes (Krabbenhoft, 2020). During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, most children had limited opportunities to interact with peers or adults outside their own households (Kociubuk & Willett, 2023; Watts & Pattnaik, 2023). Thus, the messages conveyed to them through virtual interactions were of particular importance. Framed through Noddings’ (1984) Ethics of Care, this presentation reports findings of a study of meaningful and memorable messages conveyed in virtual storytimes in the US. Data for the study derived from two nationwide surveys: one of librarians who provided virtual storytimes and one of caregivers whose children participated in virtual storytime programs. Librarians and caregivers reported messages focused on social-emotional well-being, learning, and safety. Findings underscore the need to deliver virtual storytime programming that aligns with caregivers’ preferences and children’s social-emotional needs.
Presenters
Maria CahillProfessor, School of Information Science, University of Kentucky, Kentucky, United States Soohyung Joo
Associate Professor, School of Information Science, School of Information, United States Antonio A. Garcia
LeFebvre Luke
Thomas C. Rumble Fellow Doctoral Student, Wayne State University
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Public Libraries, Storytime Programming, Children, Virtual Programming
